


Voice

by guineabees



Category: South Park
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Bad Parenting, Except for Sheila she’s doing her best, Friends to Lovers, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Panic Attacks, Protective Eric Cartman, Protective Kyle Broflovski, Secret Relationship, Sexual Harassment, Sexuality Crisis, soft conversations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:53:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28370433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guineabees/pseuds/guineabees
Summary: Kyle is used to Cartman calling him in the event of an 'emergency'.What he wasn’t expecting was a surprisingly honest conversation in the early hours of the morning and the potential for things to change between them.
Relationships: Kyle Broflovski/Eric Cartman
Comments: 14
Kudos: 101





	1. Truce

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So this is an old fic that I had uploaded years ago under the title 'Phone Calls From A Lost Boy' and the username ‘guineabees’, although that part is gone now. I somehow found it last week on an orphaned account and I thought it was really sad that I had never finished it because I was rather fond of it. 
> 
> So I decided to take the chapters that were there, edit them, reupload the fic to a new account and finish the story. I hope you enjoy!

“Kyle!” Cartman’s voice rang through the device in Kyle’s hand, piercing through his sleep muddled brain and making him wince a little at the volume. Kyle rolled his eyes upon registering the voice. 

The still silence that only came in the early hours of the morning blanketed Kyle’s house, only interrupted by the quiet creaks that occasionally occurred in houses of a certain age. Through the darkness, the only things that could be seen were the dark silhouettes of Kyle’s possessions, a sliver of light from a lone streetlamp cast against his bedroom wall and the glowing red of the digital clock on his bedside table. Kyle glanced across at the clock and squinted a little, trying to get his vision to focus on the glaring red numbers. When he saw what time it was, he let out a deep, resigned sigh.

“Cartman. It’s two in the morning on a school night. This better be important.”

Kyle had grown used to being Eric Cartman’s ‘emergency’ contact over the years. The exact reason why still escaped him, but he always seemed to be the first person Cartman would call during a crisis or just to recount the details of events that he found hilarious, although the details had often been changed to make them more dramatic. In fact, Kyle would bet that if he were to take a look at his call history, he would have more calls from Cartman than almost everyone else, rivaled only by his mother. 

Kyle guessed it had something to do with him often trying to be the voice of reason and moral compass of his friendship group. It was possible that he somehow gave off the vibe that anyone could call him at any time and he would be happy to give out advice on the right thing to do though he seldom knew what that was for himself. But there was also a part of him that just wondered whether this was yet another way Cartman liked to try and annoy him, whether it was all just bullshit and Cartman was at home grinning that smug grin reserved especially for when he had one over on him as he pretended Kyle’s opinion meant something to him.

“It is important I swear!” Cartman reassured him, although he still highly doubted it.

“Ok,” Kyle conceded, knowing that the sooner he just let him say what he needed to, the sooner it would be over and he could go to sleep. He rubbed his fingers into the space between his brows, fighting off a headache that hadn’t even started yet. “What do you want?”

A moment of hesitant silence followed, in which Kyle wondered if it might actually be something serious, concern creeping into him uninvited. But then the other replied, his voice quiet as if he suddenly realised that two in the morning is not an appropriate time to be screeching down the phone. 

“If you ever got time travel powers and could go back to the day my dad died and stop me from getting him killed, but it meant that something horrible would happen to me and I’d eventually die instead you wouldn’t do it, right?”

Kyle’s eyebrows shot up in confusion as he processed what the other was asking him. Where had this come from? Was Cartman calling him about some kind of weird nightmare or something? Kyle was really starting to regret the moment his thumb had reflexively slipped onto the answer button. He didn’t feel anywhere near awake enough for this.

“Cartman, what-”

Cartman interrupted, continuing with his rambling. “It’s just, I just finished this chapter of Life is Strange - which I’m only playing because Butters said it had photography and murder in it - and this chick just went back in time and stopped her friend’s dad from dying in a car crash because she thought it might stop her from being on her period all the time or something. The friend ended up getting in a car crash instead though because you can’t just go fucking around with timelines however you like apparently, which is super fucking weak if you ask me like what is the point in having the power to rewind time if you can’t do anything you want with it?”

It was at this point in the conversation that Kyle officially zoned out, his facial features slipping into the deadpan expression he reserved for those times Cartman irritated to hell out of him. He stared at the ceiling and tried his best to ignore the voice seeping out of the receiver, climbing in volume again with every syllable. Why was Cartman talking so loud anyway? Shouldn’t his mom be sleeping by now?

Kyle should have known it would be something trivial like this. The last time Cartman had called about a legitimate emergency had been about a year ago, when he had somehow ended up lost somewhere in Europe with Kenny and Butters. Kyle had never asked how that happened, mostly because he had a feeling he was better off not knowing. It had been a long day of research and important phone calls on his part before they were all safe and on a flight home again. 

Cartman had goaded him about it for weeks after their return, saying that he knew the curiosity must actually be killing him in that especially irritating brand of ‘I know something you don’t’ voice that Cartman pulled off so well. Kyle had stood firm though and insisted that he didn’t give a shit what had happened despite the bastard being entirely right. He probably could have just asked Kenny and Butters what had happened, but it was the principle of the thing. Besides, things had been relatively quiet since then, things had been oddly quiet on Cartman’s end and after a few months of being highly suspicious, Kyle had almost gotten used to the peacefulness of it.

Kyle’s not even sure why he still feels so compelled to answer Cartman’s calls at this point. For some reason a part of him still worries that the other boy might be in actual trouble every time his name and picture flashes up on the screen of his phone. Kenny always told him it was because he couldn’t resist being the ‘mom friend’, but he couldn’t help feeling that he felt more of a sense of urgency when it came to Cartman. Probably because he’d invested so much of his time in trying to stop him getting involved in dangerous schemes in their childhood. Part of him wished he didn’t still feel so concerned when it came to Cartman though because now it was going to end up making him fall asleep in class.

“- so the time travel chick ended up having to help her moody friend die because she was hooked up to machines and shit -like Kenny was that one time- and it was super fucking depressing bro like if they weren’t so whiny and boring most of the time I might actually have felt bad for them. Anyway, the girl with the time powers kind of reminds me of you because she keeps whining about doing the right thing and sneaking around and meddling in other people’s business. So I thought ‘I wonder if Kyle would ever screw me over that badly if he had the chance’ and then I decided to call you to find out for myself.”

“I’m going back to sleep,” Kyle stated, taking the phone away from his ear.

“No wait! Kyle!” Cartman called out frantically.

Kyle sighed and shook his head, wondering why he put himself through this as he lifted the phone back to his ear. “What, Fatass?”

Cartman huffed on the other end of the line, affronted by the use of the nickname. Kyle had to admit, it was rather juvenile, but he was feeling tired, cranky and ever so slightly like being petty toward the person who had made him feel that way.

“Just answer the question, Jew,” Cartman demanded, meeting Kyle’s insult with his own. “If you could get your nosey ass involved in my business as usual and stop me from doing what I did to my father, even if it meant I would die somewhere later along the line because you upset the balance of time or some shit, would you do it?”

“Ok first of all, this is ridiculous. You’re talking about a situation that is never gonna happen here and I can’t believe you woke me up for this,” Kyle complained. “And secondly I wouldn’t have to get my ‘nosey ass’ involved in your business so much if you weren’t so reckless all the goddamn time!”

“Ok mom, just answer my question already!”” Cartman retorted. Kyle could practically hear him rolling his eyes.

“Fine,” Kyle sighed, resigning himself to just giving an answer because he knew they’d be here all night otherwise. “I wouldn’t do it,” he muttered reluctantly. “Happy now?”

“I knew i- wait what?!” Cartman replied. “Really? You seriously wouldn’t?”

“Why do you sound so surprised?” Kyle inquired, his features scrunched in confusion. “You said that you’d die in your dad’s place in this situation if I did it. You wouldn’t be there to learn anything from it or appreciate that your dad was alive so there would be no point. I’d just be saving the life of a complete stranger while killing someone I’ve known since I was in kindergarten for no good reason.”

“Yeah but I got him killed, Kyle! Wouldn’t you of all people want to save the innocent one in this situation?” Cartman argued.

Suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place, Cartman felt guilty. Something in this game Cartman was playing had brought up old memories and he hadn’t been able to cope with how he felt about them, hadn’t been able to find sleep under the weight of them. That was what it came down to.

And who would Kyle be to desert him while he was feeling that way, especially when he was no stranger to those nights himself. Those nights when the past became like a malevolent spirit, refusing to leave him until it had caused significant amounts of damage. All of the teens in South Park had times like that, it was only natural when so many fucked up things had happened to them during some of their most important developmental years. They all had different ways of coping. 

Most pretended they were fine and none of it mattered any more. Some, like Kenny and occasionally Stan - when he wasn’t trying to do the former - developed unhealthy coping mechanisms, relying on alcohol, drama and other addictive things to get through it. Then there were the luckier ones, like Tweek, who were talented enough to create art or took up hobbies that let them channel all the chaos into something productive. And lastly, some, like Kyle, dwelled on the past, on all of the things that could and should have gone differently until it became too much, until they felt like they would drown in it all if they couldn’t find some kind of distraction. And it was now becoming evident that was something he and his childhood rival had in common.

Kyle couldn’t find it in himself to keep being annoyed that Cartman called him in the dead of night once he realised that.

“You barely knew him,” Kyle stated, deciding to level with him and give a proper explanation. “For all we know he could have been a horrible person and no offense, but he probably was. He had a child with someone when he already had a family and then instead of coming clean, he had the entire town to lie to his own child. You were trying so hard to find him and he had everyone running you around in circles, messing with your head. And he wasn’t even around to show any signs of remorse. He just didn’t care. I would never put the life of a person like that before yours, no matter how much you infuriate me sometimes.”

Kyle didn’t know what made him say that, he wasn’t entirely sure how this conversation became so serious. He was also very aware that he may have said too much about something that was still a pretty sore subject. He had a nagging feeling that this was not just some ridiculous 2 am conversation about something completely hypothetical for Cartman though. For some reason though, it didn’t sit right with him that Cartman might have actual insecurities and concerns about this, enough to make him call Kyle about it when he could have just as easily annoyed him with it at the bus stop later. A deep anger settled into him on Cartman’s behalf, that the adults of their town could do this to him, could sit back and watch it eat away at him like it had. For some reason he wanted to reach out and try to help him pick up the pieces, even with the possibility of being shoved away.

“I thought you hated me though.” Cartman argued, something desperate in his voice. “I’ve done so many fucked up things to you and a whole bunch of other people. Why wouldn’t you wanna get rid of me if you had the chance? Don’t you think I would deserve it?”

Cartman’s tone was soft and serious, and the honesty in it momentarily took the other boy by surprise. Was Cartman actually admitting that he’d done things that were wrong? What was going on here? Kyle almost wondered if he had fallen asleep again at some point during the call and was now dreaming the rest of it. It took a lot to get even a shred of seriousness from Cartman most days and here he was almost having an - honest to god - heart to heart with him over the phone.

Kyle ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation when he remembered that Cartman was waiting for a reply. It was clear to him that he was going to have to match the boy for honesty, that they had to be on equal ground if he didn’t want him to lash out in self-defense. What he chose to do now could either have them going back to being at each other’s throats, to hiding all traces of sincerity behind a wall of animosity, or it could change their relationship to something with a little more understanding. 

This was the moment where he could choose to either re-ignite a war or form a truce. And he was tired of fighting. But somehow choosing the peaceful option felt a lot more difficult, the words hesitating to leave his mouth. It was hard to speak with a calm honesty when hostility was what they both knew best.

“I don’t hate you,” Kyle admitted, making sure there weren’t any traces of uncertainty in his voice because he really did mean it.

Kyle hadn’t felt anything remotely like hate towards Cartman in a long time and he wasn’t sure if he ever truly had. He’d felt anger towards him for sure and he’d hated some of the things Cartman did and the needlessly dramatic situations he’d gotten people - mainly Kyle - involved in, but he’d never actually hated Cartman.

A lot of the time he’d actually felt like Cartman knew him better than anyone, even Stan, who he’d been almost attached at the hip with throughout his childhood. They fought a lot, but that was just their dynamic. When it actually mattered they made an excellent team together and brought out the best in each other. Together they had always been a force to be reckoned with. If they had been on each other’s side from the start, South Park wouldn’t have known what had hit it.  
They always had been and always would be a hugely significant part of each other’s lives and there was no denying that. Kyle wasn’t entirely sure how to put that into words, but he would try.

“You might have done some fucked up things when we were kids, but we all did some pretty fucked up things back then. There probably isn’t a single person in this town who can honestly say they haven’t done something truly awful before. The fact that you’re thinking about it like this now proves that you’ve changed since then, even if you can still be a reckless asshole at times. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I consider you one of my closest friends and believe it or not I don’t actually want to see bad things happen to you. You make me angry sometimes, but that’s only because I know that you can be a better person and that you have so much more to offer. Besides, things wouldn’t be anywhere near as interesting if you weren’t around.”

Silence reigned between them in the moments following Kyle’s confession. This was so different from their usual interactions, it was more honest, more vulnerable and kind of terrifying. Kyle half expected Eric to crack an inappropriate joke any second now to cover their tracks, to bring them back to their safety net of repetitive bickering about Kyle’s religion or Eric’s only slightly improved eating habits.

He was further surprised, however, when the other boy let the conversation continue. “I don’t really hate you that much either, y’know?” Kyle heard a quiet chuckle on the other end of the line. “In fact I’m pretty sure most of the shit I used to do to you was just because I didn’t know how else to get your attention. Outside of the group I was never your first choice of person to hang out with and it drove me crazy because I couldn’t figure out what was so much better about the others. So I decided that you must have thought you were too good to hang out with me or something and suddenly everything was about being suspicious of you and trying to bring you down a peg. Honestly... I just… really wanted to be your friend... but I didn’t know how...” 

Cartman’s voice trailed off awkwardly, it was pretty obvious that it had been a struggle for him to reveal that much.

Kyle felt his face heat up at that revelation and his heart beat furiously in his chest. The whole situation was new and fragile and something about that scared him. 

He wasn’t oblivious to Cartman’s way of thinking, he’d already known that a lot of the stunts he pulled in elementary school were a cry for attention, but he never thought he’d hear him admit it. The fact that Cartman had just willingly told Kyle that it was his attention he was after most of the time kind of threw him off more than a little. If it wasn’t for the genuine cautiousness in his voice when he’d said that, Kyle would have suspected him of being up to his old tricks again. 

This wasn’t a trick though. This was real. Cartman had actually seen Kyle as a worthy equal and a desirable friend beneath all of his insults and bullshit and Kyle didn’t quite know what to do with that information.

Kyle cleared his throat in an effort to break the strained, awkward silence that had enveloped them, willing the burning sensation in his cheeks to stop. 

“Well, you could have started by being a little nicer,” he pointed out, failing to hold back a grin at the irritated sigh that he received in response, “but we’re friends now. So as long as you don’t give me any reasons to regret saying that, you don’t need to worry about any of that anymore.”

“We’re friends?” Cartman questioned, a hopeful tremor in his voice. Kyle recognised it for what it was, a need for confirmation.

“Of course we are,” he replied quickly, trying his best to ignore the relieved sigh on the other end of the line. “I wouldn’t have put up with so many of your idiotic schemes if we weren’t.”

He caught himself almost smiling at the tired, but sincere “Ok, cool,” that answered him.

Cartman let out a loud yawn after that, which turned out to be contagious as Kyle's quieter one echoed it. They both laughed, and just like that the tense atmosphere that came with the sudden serious conversation dissipated into the silence of the early morning. 

It felt as if a weight had been lifted from Kyle’s chest. He could hear Cartman’s breathing relax over the line and suspected that he must have been feeling something similar. A brief, traitorous thought flitted through his mind, observing that Cartman was almost cute when he was sleepy. Almost. But it was gone as quickly as it had appeared and Kyle could chalk it up to lack of sleep affecting his thinking.

“Now seriously, go to bed because I’m not covering for you if you oversleep and miss school tomorrow,” Kyle complained.

“Yeah yeah. Good night, Jew,” Cartman said softly, his voice already riddled with sleep. There was no trace of his usual venom behind the name though, it seemed more like a friendly nickname, like a nod toward their past selves, than the insult he usually intended it to be.

Kyle wondered if he would actually remember any of this conversation in the morning or if he would write it off as some strange dream where he actually had a pretty civil talk with his childhood rival. It seemed like something had changed between them, shifted ever so slightly over the course of this bizarre phone call, like they had actually made some positive progress. After everything that they had been through together over the years, Kyle hoped that was true. But only the daylight would tell.

“Good night, Fatass,” he replied, hanging up and placing his phone back on his bedside table gently, feeling strangely hopeful about what the morning would bring.


	2. The Bus Stop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't really changed a lot in this chapter, but I did edit a few details like giving them an actual age.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Kyle didn’t know what he expected things to be like that morning. If he was being honest, he had half been expecting Cartman to deny that their phone call had ever happened or try to bribe him not to mention it to anyone as soon as they had a moment alone.

Cartman hadn’t acted as if anything was any different as Kyle exchanged sleep riddled greetings with the others at the bus stop before going back to standing in silence and trying to ignore the cold. The only indicator that anything was different between them was a cautious smile directed his way when the other boys weren’t looking, which he responded to with a small smile of his own.

Things really hadn’t changed that much since they had started high school. The boys still had to catch the bus every morning since their parents found it hard to trust any of them with a vehicle of their own after all the antics they had gotten up to in their childhood and Kenny couldn’t afford a car even if he had wanted one. 

One change that had been noticeable though was the ever present sense of impending doom lingering over them, reminding them that most of their class were seventeen already and the moment where they would have to decide upon their futures was lingering ever closer. That and the main topics of conversation that took place between them. Although, Kyle had been finding more difficulties with the latter as of late.

“Dude should have seen the girl I hooked up with on Saturday night!” Kenny boasted, more so to Stan than anyone else.

“Who was she?” Stan asked. “Anyone we know?”

“Nah she’s from North Park,” Kenny replied. “But you should see her, she’s insanely out of my league, like a solid nine point five. I think I have a picture of her on my phone somewhere, hold on a second.”

Kyle tuned out the rest of the conversation, staring at his feet. He never really felt like he could join in when Stan and Kenny started talking about girls. Partially because he didn’t like the way they talked about them most of the time and partially because he had been feeling more than a little conflicted when it came to that lately. He just wasn’t interested in talking about girls, dating them or doing anything else with them really. 

He’d thought for a while that maybe he was just too focused on other things like his grades and trying to stay afloat in the tsunami of strange events that took place in his town to really care about dating. Recently though, he was beginning to realise that maybe it was less that he wasn’t interested in dating and more that he was trying to avoid thinking about it.

A few times Kyle had been dragged into games of spin the bottle at parties that he had also coincidentally been dragged to. He had taken part in his fair share of clumsy teenage kisses with girls he knew and girls he had never met before. But it always ended up feeling really underwhelming like there was nothing there and he really couldn’t figure out what the big deal was about. 

Once, he had even caught his thoughts slipping to the math homework he had been given that day and he had ended up trying to solve equations in his head while his body went through the motions, waiting for it to be over. When he had revealed this to Stan and Kenny they had just about pissed themselves laughing. Eventually though, after he had gotten angry and threatened to kick them out, Stan had recovered and proposed the idea that Kyle was probably one of those people who needed to have an emotional connection with a girl first or kissing wouldn’t really mean anything to him. Kyle had accepted that as a valid explanation at the time, but it still didn’t feel quite right. And after that, he hadn’t talked to Stan or Kenny about it again, no longer trusting them with the subject. 

In elementary school, he’d usually been the single friend of the group. Sure he had shown interest in girls and dated a few of them, but he wasn’t sure if he was actually into them or just doing what everyone else was doing. Yeah, he thought that some of the girls at his school were pretty, but recently he caught himself staring at boys too often for it to be a coincidence. He wasn’t really sure how he felt a lot of the time. It was confusing and it had been irritating him beyond belief that he could probably hack into a government database with no problems, but he couldn’t work out his own damn feelings.

“Maybe I should start dating too now that I’m not seeing Wendy anymore...” Kyle heard Stan say.

He was about to ignore the comment, knowing that Stan and Wendy would be back together by the end of the week, but something caught his attention, or rather the lack of something. Kyle hadn’t heard Cartman’s voice once throughout the entire exchange. That was a bit odd. Cartman always chimed in with his opinion, even if it was just to say that he didn’t give a shit about the topic of conversation.

Kyle glanced towards the other boy to see what that was all about, only to see Cartman staring right back at him. He met the boy’s gaze head on and held it, searching for some kind of clue as to what he was thinking in the blue eyed stare. It would have probably been awkward if this had happened with anybody else, someone probably would have backed down and gotten embarrassed about the prolonged eye contact, but Cartman and Kyle had never really let awkwardness be an issue between them. They saw each other as equals after all, whether they were rivals or allies.

Cartman made a show of shooting a look towards Stan and Kenny and then rolling his eyes, wordlessly communicating to Kyle how he felt about their conversation. Kyle grinned and shook his head in a way that said ‘I know right?’ and the two shared a brief smile.

When the bus pulled up, Kyle let Stan and Kenny go ahead, pulling back so that he could sit next to Cartman and hopefully have some sort of clarification that their conversation the night before had not been forgotten. Cartman seemed a bit taken aback that Kyle was pretty much choosing to sit by him, but he followed his lead anyway, slipping into the seat next to him.

“I see you managed to drag yourself into the world of the living after all,” Kyle commented as soon as he sat down.

“Yeah,” Cartman yawned. “But I’m really fucking tired so if I fall asleep it’s entirely your fault.”

“My fault?” Kyle questioned. “You were the one who woke me up to talk about a video game. How is that my fault?”

“Whatever Kyle, you still answered the phone and allowed the conversation to continue so it’s your responsibility.”

A silence fell over them after that and Kyle suddenly felt a little awkward in the other’s presence. Neither of them seemed entirely sure how to continue. Did they tread carefully to avoid falling into their usual pattern of arguing or did they carry on as normal and find out what the touchy subjects were as they went along? 

Being civil wasn’t entirely new to them, but in most cases they had a common goal to work towards or a problem to solve together. Now there were no distractions forcing them to put aside their differences. This new, tentative friendship was all down to them and how willing they were to work on it and that was more than a little bit daunting.

“So…” Kyle picked at his glove absent-mindedly. “I didn’t take you as the type to enjoy story based video games about time travelling lesbians.”

“I don’t play it for the lesbians Kyle,” Cartman stated, rolling his eyes. “I play it for the murder mystery and the photography like I said, ok? I’m not one of those gross straight guys who like to watch girls kiss at parties and shit.”

“What are you then if you’re not ‘a gross straight guy who likes to watch girls kiss’?” Kyle inquired, genuinely curious about the other boy’s choice of wording and unable to resist prying a little for answers.

Cartman took a look around him to make sure no one was listening before leaning in close and replying in a hushed tone. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I happen to be a bisexual who can appreciate a good plot twist and a handsome villain.”

Kyle hadn’t been expecting an actual answer to his question. He wasn’t quite sure how to respond to it. Cartman hardly ever cut the bullshit and let himself be vulnerable and every time he did let something through it always took Kyle by surprise for a second. The longer he stayed quiet though, the more uncomfortable Cartman looked and he knew that if he didn’t respond soon the other boy would think Kyle had a problem with it, get defensive and make it into some kind of joke. Kyle didn’t want to spoil something that could be genuine progress.

“Oh,” he replied, kicking himself internally for not having a more eloquent answer.

“What? Are you not cool with that or something?” Cartman questioned, his brows drawing together in a frown.

“No!” Kyle argued. “No, I just wasn’t expecting you to be so honest all of a sudden, that’s all. When we were younger all someone had to do was mention the word gay and you’d get defensive as fuck.”

“Yeah. Well. People grow up, Kyle. I’m not exactly the same person I was back then. Besides, when people said it back then, it was meant as an insult,” Cartman reminded him, and he couldn’t help but feel guilt for sometimes being a part of that. “But just for the record, I haven’t told anyone else so if we could keep that between us, that would be cool. If you tell anyone I’ll know it was you and I’ll hunt you down.”

“My lips are sealed,” Kyle assured him, a small thrill running through him at the knowledge that he was being trusted with a secret so important and by Eric Cartman of all people.

“That makes a nice change,” Cartman snarked.

“Asshole,” Kyle responded with a fake offended expression that melted into an amused grin, smacking Cartman lightly on the arm. The fact that he had trusted Kyle enough to tell him something he hadn’t revealed to anyone else made him feel a genuine sense of warmth that he’d rather not dwell on. It felt nice to be getting on with Cartman for a change though and he hoped it would last this time.

Cartman grinned and shoved him right back. “At least I have an ass hole, Kyle.”

“What’s that even supposed to mean?” Kyle questioned. “Am I supposed to be offended?”

Cartman paused, his hands on Kyle’s shoulders. “...I don’t actually fucking know, it just sounded like a good comeback at the time,” he admitted.

A beat of silence went by with the two of them staring at each other before they broke out into laughter at how ridiculous the situation was. They had shared two pretty deep conversations now and Cartman had dropped one giant sexuality bombshell and here they were, still throwing the same nonsensical insults at each other. It was like a weight had suddenly been lifted.

Once it dawned on Kyle that they didn’t have to try so hard to act differently around each other, the atmosphere between them felt a lot lighter and warmer. He was finally able to relax in the knowledge that they could still be themselves. As long as they were both on the same page and knew that there was no longer any venom behind their words he was sure they would be fine.

Stan leaned over the back of the seat in front of them, a casual smile on his face. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Kyle and Cartman replied simultaneously, before looking at each other and cracking up again.

Stan’s smile faltered and gave way to a questioning look. “Ok… well…” He tapped his fingers against the seat, hesitating over what he was about to say. “It’s nice to hear you guys laughing instead of bickering for a change,” he admitted, slipping back down into his seat before either of them could respond.

Kyle had to agree with him. It felt like a lot of nice changes were happening lately.


	3. A Deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter three is here! Enjoy!

The rest of the school day had been nothing out of the ordinary: the teachers didn’t really care all that much, the work was stressful and everyone would rather be at home. At lunch the boys had joked, teased each other and debated about things across the table as usual and nothing too out of the ordinary had taken place. Cartman and Kyle had spoken a few times, amicably, and the world hadn’t ended. However, the normality ceased when the loud buzzing and flash of Cartman’s picture on Kyle’s phone screen interrupted his reading later on in the evening.

“How much do you think it would cost to hire someone to either do all of this damn work for me or demolish our school?” Cartman asked, not even bothering with a greeting. Kyle sighed, giving up on his book and placing it on his desk so he could give the conversation his full attention.

“You could probably get anyone in our school to demolish it without even offering to pay them to be honest,” he pointed out. Then his eyes widened as it dawned on him that the person he was talking to would actually try something like that. “Don’t do that though,” he quickly added.

“I know. It was a joke, Kyle. I’m not actually gonna destroy the fucking school… this time,” Cartman responded, his tone exasperated enough that Kyle could almost picture him rolling his eyes. “There’d be no point anyway because the teachers are all sadists, who’d either still make us go to classes just in a way more shitty location with even less comfortable seating or make us repeat the year once it was rebuilt.”

“True,” Kyle agreed. He would have joked that it sounded like Cartman had really thought this through, but knowing Cartman, he probably actually had.

“I mean Jesus Christ it’s Monday and they’re already bombarding us with homework left, right and center! Who does that?” Cartman complained. “How do they expect me to know any of this shit?”

“Cartman, most of it is stuff we did in class today. If you had been paying attention and not falling asleep then you would know this,” Kyle reprimanded.

“Yeah well, we’ve already established that me falling asleep in class was your fault,” Cartman replied dismissively. “So anyway, hypothetically, if I was to write about the use of pathetic fallacy in-”

“If you’re trying to get me to do your English homework for you, it’s not happening,” Kyle interrupted.

“Jesus Kyle, can’t a guy complain about his homework without being accused of trying to trick someone into doing it for him?” Cartman questioned, his offended tone dripping with insincerity. “Whatever happened to making casual conversation?”

“Were you planning to get me to do it for you though?”

Cartman hesitated with his response. “... No?”

“Really? So you weren’t going to try and get me to say things so that you could write them down then?” Kyle interrogated.

“Ok, maybe if the answers had casually come up in conversation… I might have taken some notes, yes,” Cartman revealed.

“You’re ridiculous,” Kyle replied, shaking his head. He couldn’t seem to fight back a smile at his friend’s antics though. At least Cartman’s schemes were relatively innocent now compared to what they used to involve.

“Hey! It worked on Butters the last time I had really difficult Maths homework.”

“Of course it did,” Kyle muttered, pressing his free hand against his forehead. “Look, we both know you’re smart enough to do the homework yourself. Why don’t you just try for once? You could probably have some of the highest grades in our class if you actually tried.”

The other end of the line was silent for a few seconds, but Kyle knew not to take that as a win when he was dealing with Cartman. He always had an answer for everything, even if it took him a while to come out with it sometimes. Sure enough, Kyle could almost hear the victorious grin in the other boy’s voice when he finally responded.

“My my Kyle. Was that a compliment I heard just now? Are you trying to say you think I’m a genius?”

“I didn’t use the word ‘genius’,” Kyle protested.

“But you do think I’m intelligent though,” Cartman pointed out. “One of the most intelligent people in our class apparently.”

Kyle suddenly felt a little awkward. It wasn't like he hadn't encouraged or complimented Cartman before, but usually Kyle or the group had something to gain from it. There wasn't really anything for Kyle to personally gain from it this time. This time he was encouraging him because a part of him wanted to see him succeed.

He had called Cartman smart because he fully believed that it was the truth. Cartman was intelligent. He had to be intelligent to come up with some of the intricate plans he pulled off in his childhood and to be able to get people on his side even after some of the things he’d done in the past. The logical part of Kyle’s brain noted that he could just be doing that to him now, but for some reason it didn’t feel like that. It felt like Cartman was being genuine with him.

“Don’t get carried away, asshole,” Kyle huffed. “I’m trying to help you out here. If you keep getting other people to do your work, what are you going to do when we have exams and you’re on your own?”

“Cheat, duh.”

“Cartman!”

“What?” Cartman questioned. “I said I wanted to be your friend, that doesn't mean I wanna be a fucking nerd too. Just because we’re trying to get along now doesn’t mean I’m suddenly going to become an upstanding citizen.”

Kyle sighed. “Ok, how about I offer you a deal?”

“You have my attention. What kind of a deal are we talking about here?” Cartman inquired and Kyle felt like he might have made some progress. Before Kyle could reply though, Cartman spoke again. “Is it gonna be another ‘leprechauns don’t exist’ kind of deal or…?” he added and Kyle had to take a few seconds to remind himself that murder was in fact illegal and that Cartman was just teasing him before he spoke again.

“Well, I was gonna say if you stop harassing people to give you the answers and actually do the homework, you can come over after school tomorrow and we’ll play video games, but if you’re not gonna take this seriously then-”

“No wait! I will take it seriously I swear!” Cartman interrupted. “You got a deal.”

“You sound strangely eager,” Kyle observed.

“It just feels like it’s been forever since any of us actually just hung out, that’s all. I’m so fucking bored of being here by myself all the time!”

Cartman probably hadn’t spared much thought towards his wording. Kyle noticed though that sometimes, when his guard was down or when he was getting defensive, Cartman would almost always unintentionally spill small details about his life that were actually kind of concerning. He frowned as he thought about the implications of that last sentence.

“You’re by yourself all the time?” he asked cautiously. “Where’s your mom?”

“She’s around,” Cartman responded, almost too quickly, “but I’m not exactly gonna fucking sit around playing video games and shit with my mom am I? That would be kind of pathetic.”

Kyle had the feeling there was something Cartman wasn’t telling him, but he decided to let it go for now. “Ok, so tomorrow after school is good for you then?” he checked.

“I mean yeah unless you somehow change your mind in the next few hours, which I wouldn’t put past you with your devious mind tricks and all.”

“Oh no. You’ve discovered my secret,” Kyle deadpanned, rolling his eyes. “All I do is sit here trying to come up with elaborate plans to trick you into being a better person for the good of humanity.”

“You would know all about what’s best for the good of humanity though wouldn’t you, Human Kite?” Cartman retorted and Kyle could practically hear the grin in his voice.

“Oh my god fuck off the superhero thing was years ago,” Kyle responded with a laugh.

“I bet you still have the costume though, in all of its triangular shoulder padded glory.”

“Ok yeah, I still own that monstrosity,” Kyle admitted. “I probably wouldn’t even be able to fit more than one leg in it now though.” He grinned when he thought about how ridiculous someone his age would look running around South Park in one of their old superhero costumes. “How much do you wanna bet that Kenny still tries to dress up as Mysterion?”

“He definitely still does, dude,” Cartman confirmed. “I’m pretty sure he’s used his alter ego to pick up chicks on at least three separate occasions.”

“Oh my God,” Kyle snorted. “And that actually works? Like girls actually fall for that crap?”

“Hook, line and sinker from what I’ve heard.”

“What the fuck?”

“Come on Kyle,” Cartman teased. “You can’t see how being rescued by a strong person wearing tight clothing would be appealing to anyone?”

“Not really,” Kyle replied. “I’m not the type of person who would let someone make me feel like some kind of damsel in distress.”

“Don’t I know it,” Cartman mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

Kyle was about to argue, but then he heard what sounded like a door slamming followed by a male voice yelling something on the other end of the line. It wasn’t a voice he recognised and something just didn’t seem quite right about it. For some reason it just didn’t sit well with him.

“Was that nothing too?” he questioned. A few beats of silence from the other end of the line had him pressing further, concern was curling in the pit of his stomach. Something was definitely off. “Seriously who was that? It sounded like someone was talking to you.”

“For your information, it actually was nothing too. Nothing for you to worry about anyway,” Cartman replied, an edge of defensiveness in his voice. “It’s just... the TV... that’s all.”

“It didn’t sound like-”

“I better be going anyway,” Cartman interjected, “if I’m going to be getting this homework done before tomorrow I mean.”

The stubborn part of Kyle wanted to reject the subject change and keep asking questions until Cartman gave him a real answer. That would probably just end in them falling out again though and then it would take forever for him to gain back the little bit of trust Cartman had so far given him. He didn’t even know why he cared so much about this tentative friendship they were starting to work on, but he did.

“Ok fine,” he conceded with a sigh. “See you tomorrow, Fatass.”

“See you tomorrow, Jew.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last of the chapters that were previously posted. So everything else from here on out is gonna be completely new. I'm kind of nervous to post the new stuff, but excited to continue the story.
> 
> I hope you're all staying safe and healthy! Things are really difficult and scary right now so if you want someone to talk to I'm always happy to listen.

**Author's Note:**

> I mostly write for other fandoms now and I'm not sure how active the South Park fandom is anymore, but I have missed these characters and writing them so much. 
> 
> I'm a little sad that I orphaned my old account and removed my South Park fics from tumblr because I know there are some one shots and stuff that I was proud of and now I can't find them anymore.
> 
> I'm honestly a little nervous about returning, but I couldn't just leave this fic or the other one I'm planning to bring back unfinished. For now, I'll just be working on this fic, but there might be more in the future once it's finished. I'll try and hold the next two chapters back so I can get a head start and hopefully settle into a regular update schedule. If you want to read the next two chapters, you can look for the old fic using the title I put in the beginning notes, but I will be editing them to add more detail.


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